I recently watched comedic legend, Steve Harvey, probably make one of the most public and unforgiving mistakes of his life. Harvey who was the host for this year’s Miss Universe was confused by what was written on the small placard given to him and named the wrong woman, Miss Columbia (Arianda Gutierrez), ‘Miss Universe.‘ After which, he had to apologize, strip the crown from Miss Columbia and re-introduce the new ‘Miss Universe‘ as Miss Philippines.

Like normal, social media has prepared a “funeral” for Harvey, and the ‘de-crowned’ Miss Universe. However, I think it would be kind to stop and think about the repercussions and the emotional rollercoaster that everyone of these ladies might have been facing in the moment.

Entering into an event or competition of that magnitude is life changing and is intensely emotional, physical and psychological stress. So we’d understand it if the women’s faces said it all. Obviously, there was a certain amount of surprise/shock shown on the faces of the two women (and I bet, the rest of the ladies) but all in all, they handled it very well. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what was racing through their mind’s at that specific moment.

“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honourable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom…” James 3:13

In both public or private embarrassment, or public and private exaltation – there is wisdom in humility – of the heart, not just of the face.

Both women did awfully well in that moment, but now, after it all, when everyone’s alone in their rooms, the real reaction will be the biggest test of character.

How do you react when you’re faced with embarrassment or exaltation (of, let’s admit) a lesser scale? It’s easy to slip into the need to validate oneself and try to prove how right one is.

Look at the life of Jesus – I think death on the cross, and having his Father turn away could have been the greatest embarrassment of all time. Instead of showing all of the people who ridiculed him that he was king by ruling them while he lived, he humbled himself (MAJORLY!) and was murdered by them (Public Humiliation). The best part though, is that he rose again three days later (Public Exaltation) – showing us that we can have victory!

I am learning humility in exaltation as well as humiliation (although, I feel that humility in exaltation may be the harder of the two). It’s good for us to have a good understanding of the fact that everything happens by grace and for a reason.

It’s the end of the year now, so now would also be a perfect time for us to check ourselves, our reactions and how we’ve treated people in our winning or losing.

If you feel that you have no idea how to do that and need some help there’s a guy called Jesus who is pretty good at helping you sort through that in your heart. If you would like to know about him and how to build a relationship with him, why don’t you click on the banner below?